Political parties blame each other for cross-border infiltration in Punjab

CM Badal said that terrorism hasn't revived in the state and that onus lies on Centre to beef up the borders

As a fierce gun battle is on in the Dinanagar town of district Gurdaspur of Punjab, killing a senior police officer among others, the political parties are busy blaming one another. The Punjab Congress President Partap Singh Bajwa, while strongly condemning the terrorist attack at Dinanagar, said it exposed the vulnerability of the state and its soft underbelly, besides the laxity of the Akali Dal-BJP government led by Parkash Singh Badal.

“However, what is shocking that the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has tried to pass the buck to the centre saying that the infiltration should have been stopped at the border itself. His party is part of the government at the centre and as such, he must share the blame. He can’t shift responsibility. Moreover, the activities of the terrorists continued for some time before they started the attack going by the way explosives were planted on the rail track. It is the vigilance that was lacking," he said.

He recalled that Punjab had been through the worst for more than a decade and what had happened today seemed to be an indication that the effort was to once again provoke the situation.

He said here was an issue, which was not political but Badal could not be absolved of his responsibility as he had been repeatedly been maintaining that the state was peaceful.

Badal said that this incident has nothing to do with the revival of terrorism in the state as it was an act of a terrorist group active outside the state. He said that Punjab has so far remained peaceful for the last many years and there was no chance of its revival in the state as the state security agencies had been keeping a strict vigil over the law and order situation in the state. “We are committed to maintaining peace and amity in the state at every cost and no one would be allowed to disturb it,” added  Badal.

He said that it was high time that the Centre came up with a concrete policy to check such anti-national activities. “We cannot afford the huge loss of life and property of countrymen in such cowardly acts so we must draft a national policy against terrorism”, added Badal.

People evacuate a hospital adjoing a police staion that was attacked by the militants at Dinanagar in Gurdaspur district

The Chief Minister further said that to check such attacks the security at the borders should be completely beefed up by the Union Government. He said that the borders should be sealed in an effective manner so as to check infiltration by the terrorist groups from across the border. Badal said that timely action was needed to ensure that such incidents do not take place by increasing the vigil at the borders.

Superintendent of Police (Detective)  Baljeet Singh laid down his life during the insurgency operations during the day.